


Four Steps to Treating a Twisted Ankle

by C_Sharpe



Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: Awkward Kissing, Awkwardness, F/M, Fluff, Mild Hurt/Comfort, Post-Season/Series 02, Pre-Season/Series 03, Puberty
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-29
Updated: 2019-07-03
Packaged: 2020-05-30 19:02:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 9,670
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19409467
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/C_Sharpe/pseuds/C_Sharpe
Summary: It's Mike's first chance to visit El since the Snow Ball, and he wants everything to be perfect. So, of course, he falls flat on his face.





	1. Rest

**Author's Note:**

> First things first, I started this in March, and I want to get it done before season 3. My life has been... complicated lately, but I don't have much less to write. This story will contain references to sex and sexuality, but it isn't meant to be provacitive. I'm far from the guy to go to for romance or sexy stuff. I do, however, have intimate knowlege of being an awkward fourteen year old boy trying to navigate spending time with his first girlfriend. That is what this story is about.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First things first, I started this in March, and I want to get it done before season 3. My life has been... complicated lately, but I don't have much left to write. This story will contain references to sex and sexuality, but it isn't meant to be provacitive. I'm far from the guy to go to for romance or sexy stuff. I do, however, have intimate knowlege of being an awkward fourteen year old boy trying to navigate spending time with his first girlfriend. That is what this story is about.

It was the middle of January, and for once, Mike Wheeler was grateful for the deep-winter chill of Hawkins, as he made his long trek through the woods. If it were any warmer, the long ride, followed by a shorter but still substantial walk combined with the awkward weight of his overstuffed pack would have had him sweating long ago. Nancy may have cautioned him against cologne for this occasion, but that didn’t mean he should show up smelling like he was fresh from gym class. He had his new, crisp white button down shirt, brand new jeans from Christmas, and his finest forest green sweater, and he wanted them to stay as clean as possible. Today was important. Today he was making the hike to the cabin for the first time. Which meant it was the first time since the Snowball that he would be able to see El.

They had communicated sporadically in the interim through the radio (well, two way communication, Mike still kept up the habit of calling her on the supercomm nearly every night and she visited with her abilities just as often) but with the remnants of the lab and army personnel still trickling out of town, any face to face meeting had been deemed too dangerous. Now, though, the lab was empty, the only soldier in town was in the small recruitment office in town, and Hopper had finally relented.

Mike checked his compass, the position of the sun, and his watch, struggling to do so with the uneven weight of his bag. He had abandoned his bike about twenty five minutes prior, and by his calculations that had been about a mile from the location of the cabin by his elaborate route. He allowed himself a small fist-pump as his diligent planning was rewarded and he saw the roof of a small, rustic cabin through the bare limbs of the trees ahead. Butterflies danced in his stomach as he hurried his pace. He was so close! All he needed was to walk around to the front of the cabin, do the special knock he’d been taught, and he would finally be reunited with El. All these thoughts may have put a spring in his step, but also definitely contributed to him not paying attention to his footing.

He felt a defined and sudden tug on his right foot as he took another step forward. Before he could even attempt to regain his footing, a sound like a gunshot went off to his left. Startled, his body instinctively turned toward the source of the sound, which only served to exacerbate his predicament. Whatever was hooked on his ankle twisted around it as his momentum and lack of firm footing spun him a full 180 degrees before he landed hard on this left side.

He lay there for a few moments, struggling with undignified groans to recover the air that had been forced from his lungs. He silently cursed Hopper and his damn tripwire as his breathing evened out. Searching his memory, he noted Hopper saying there was a tripwire on the path in the front of the cabin, though he said nothing regarding other ones. He also remembered Mr. Clarke stating that absence of evidence is not the same as evidence of absence.

_Okay, my fault then._ Mike thought. _Anything broken?_

He did a quick inventory. Head, fine, no pain there. Ribs? Sore from landing on his elbow, but felt intact. Arms seemed good. Legs?

“Shit!” Mike hissed through gritted teeth. Moving his right ankle had produced a pain so intense it lit up the darkness behind his closed eyes like a camera flash. The pain receded to a throbbing tightness after a moment, but it still felt a little like his foot was caught in a bear trap. Knowing Hopper, he was probably lucky it actually wasn’t.

Mike lay still for a minute or two, going over his options, and mustering his courage for when he must eventually rise to his feet. Foot. Whatever. Before he could manage it, however, he heard footsteps in the old half frozen leaves carpeting the forest floor. Slow at first, then suddenly rushing towards him.

“Mike? Oh, Mike! Oh no, no no no, are you okay?” El’s voice floated over to him. He found himself smiling despite the circumstances, and raised a hand in a lazy wave.

“Hi El.” Mike muttered in his embarrassment. Now Mike considered himself a pretty enlightened guy. Maybe not a feminist, but at least close. He had no problem with strong women. His masculine pride, what there had been to begin with, had been thoroughly whittled to nothing by bullies who had an abundance of their own. He didn’t mind El saving his life(in fact, he didn’t mind it to an occasionally worrying degree, as thinking of El, clad in her punk rock gear, single-handedly dispatching monsters like it was nothing occasionally ventured into palm-sweaty, lip-bitey territory, and that made him a little uncomfortable.)

It was just how often it seemed to happen. The gym, the quarry, the school, Will’s house, the tunnels, it was like every time they saw each other he needed rescuing. He didn’t need to be a hero or anything, but he would love to be at least a competent, self sufficient person once in a while. While this little crisis played out In his mind, El was already well into performing her latest rescue, checking him over.

She wasn’t wearing her warrior clothes today, instead she was clad in blue jeans (a little too big, they were rolled up at the cuffs) a light blue shirt which actually seemed a little small, and an oversized flannel shirt, sleeve buttons open (where did Hopper get clothes for her?). Her hair was closer to the curly mop he’d seen the morning after the gate than the slick gelled look, or the teased perfection of the Snow Ball. Still curly, but she’d clearly gone to the effort to keep it from her eyes. In other words, she looked amazing.

“I think I just rolled my ankle. I’m okay.” Mike said, trying to calm her down. “If Hopper can come give me a hand up, I should be okay to make it inside.”

“Hopper’s at work. I can help.” El said, grabbing his arm and starting to pull him up.

“Hopper… is at work.” Mike said, his mind not quite grasping the concept. El had pulled him upright, he wasn’t sure if she had used her power, or if it was just another impressive feat to add to the list. Mike leaned on her slightly as he found his balance. Laying his right foot flat on the ground, he experimentally put a bit of weight on it. He tried to put on a brave face, but the pain was intense. El’s expression became even more concerned, which was a little bit impressive in its own right.

“Shit.” Mike said. He couldn’t walk on it, probably couldn’t even limp on it. “I guess…” Mike started as he stared at the cabin, which wasn’t far away at all. “I guess I can, uh, hop the rest of the way.”

El didn’t look convinced, and hadn’t let go of his arm since helping him up.

“I can carry you.” El said, pointing to her nose with her free hand.

“No! No. I mean, I don’t think this qualifies as a super power emergency. I’ll hop on my good foot, maybe you can just help with, you know, me not falling over?” Mike suggested.

El made a bit of a face at the suggestion, but nodded her acquiescence. Progress was slow, but steady, and after a few minutes Mike was catching his breath against the railing of the front porch.

“I guess… I know… why it’s called… the… Hopper cabin.” Mike joked.

It took a second for it to hit El, which was actually impressive, considering just a year ago a dumb joke like that would have been right over her head. She smiled, despite the stress of the situation.

“A little further, then we can call Hop. He’ll know what to do.” El said, grabbing Mike’s arm and pulling him along.

“Yeah… but… won’t he be… busy… or something?” Mike asked between hops. “Must be… a big deal… if he left… when I was… going to be here.” El was silent.

“El? He… uh… he does know I’m here… right?” Mike asked.

“He said you could come over today.” El said, opening the door ahead of them with her power.

“Okay? Did… he say… when? Like, specifically?” Mike asked.

“Well…” El started, not looking at Mike, “He said when you got out of school.”

“But… I didn’t have… school today… because of… midterms.” Mike said, dropping the large awkward bag by the door, sighing with relief being rid of it. He took a look around at the cabin. He wasn’t sure what he’d been expecting, but it was nicer than he thought. Homey, even. He looked from the small kitchen, to what seemed to be the living room area, over to a bed against the wall (Hopper’s?), the small bathroom, and finally to the door that must lead to El’s room. He was curious to see it, but he wasn’t feeling confident enough to push his luck with Hopper any more than he had.

“So… you are out of school. So you can come over. He said.” El said, like she was trying to convince him. They got Mike settled into the chair in the living area, and El went over to the radio.

“Ok, I get that. I really don’t think he’s going to see it that way though.” Mike said, wiping a hand down his face. He couldn’t really be mad at El, if she was half as excited about meeting up as he was, he was surprised she had bothered with the technicality at all. Hopper was still totally going to murder him, though.


	2. Ice

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hopper tries his very best to be understanding.

Mike took to fretting helplessly in the not uncomfortable armchair he’d found himself in while El made straight for the radio setup on the wall. Mike was impressed with the rig, it was a little on the outdated side, but AV had taught him enough to know that it was a fairly powerful and reliable piece of equipment. He wondered idly if Hopper had bought it or if it was something that the chief of police was just entitled to have in his house. Radio tech might be a source of common interest for the two of them, if Mike didn’t find himself in a shallow grave behind the cabin tonight.

Mike flinched as he realized that El was already sending a signal in morse code. He hadn’t memorized it yet (though after Will’s message, everyone was putting some effort into learning it,) but even if he didn’t know any morse code, he’d recognize the pattern. Dot dot dot, dash dash dash, dot dot dot. Universal emergency distress call, SOS. She’d already tapped it out three full times before the idea of saying “Hey, maybe not such a big deal” even entered his mind.

He heard a response he didn’t recognize, and El was checking the chart on the wall and adjusting the frequency.

A burst of static followed by a male voice. “-id? Are you receiving me? Kid, you gotta talk to me here. What’s the problem?” Hopper’s slightly panicked voice filled the cabin. Mike flinched.

“I hear you!” El said. “Mike’s hurt!”

“Woah, whoa. Calm down a little bit for me. Mike’s hurt? How do you know? Where?” Hopper asked, noticeably less concerned than a moment ago, Mike couldn’t help but realize.

“His foot! His, um… ankle!” El answered.

“No, I mean where is Mike? Because there are people at school who can take care of anything like that, I promise.” Hopper said, trying to placate her. It gave the impression that this wasn’t the first time they’d had a discussion like this.

“No, it’s just us and I don’t know how to fix it!” El yelled.

There was a long pause before the next reply.

“Kid, is he there with you?” Hopper said. Well, all the panic and concern were gone now. El looked back at MIke. He was presently useless.

“...Yes.” El said softly. Another long pause followed.

“Do you think you could put him on for me?” Hopper asked politely. Well, the words were polite, but the tone gave Mike the impression of a cartoon character who face got redder and redder until steam shot out of their ears.

Mike moved to lever himself out of the chair, but before he could get his good foot under him, the entire chair slit across the floor and stopped gently next to El’s. He had time to note that the action hadn’t seemed to cause a nosebleed. He mumbled a thanks before taking the wired mic she offered.

“Good-” he stopped to nervously clear his throat, “Good morning, uh, Chief.” He managed.

“Oh, good. You remembered I’m the Chief. You know, of _police_. And unless I missed a meeting, I think truancy is still a crime in Indiana. So you want to try explaining to me why you’re in my house at quarter to ten in the morning on a school day?” Hopper asked.

Mike looked to El. Her eyes were wide, lips slightly parted, and didn’t appear to have any answers for him at this point.

“It’s not though!” Mike said, frantically into the receiver. “I mean, I’m not! I mean, I didn’t have school today!”

“Right. They added a holiday to the calendar and I missed it.” Hopper said, clearly not buying that.

“No! I mean, it isn’t a holiday. It’s um, mid terms. There’s a morning test period and an afternoon one and today was science and languages and I don’t take a language so I’m allowed to leave after science only Mr. Clarke lets you skip either the mid term or the final if you get an A on all the quizzes and I did so I didn’t have to go in for the first one either so I have the day off and that’s why I’m here I’m totally not skipping!” Mike gushed in one breath.

“Je-sus kid. If I managed to understand that, you might have a legitimate reason to be out of school. Might. I’m going to call Joyce and check on that. That doesn’t explain what you’re doing _in my Cabin_ without my permission.” Hopper said.

“Well, that, uh, that’s because, um,” Mike took his fingers off the button. He looked at El. He had no idea how to tell Hopper something that wouldn’t get one of them in trouble, and while he wouldn’t normally have a problem throwing himself on that particular grenade for El’s sake, the result would be the same whichever of them took the blame. They wouldn’t get to see each other anymore.

El seemed to understand this, and Mike’s hesitation. Schooling her face into a mask of determination, she nodded at Mike and took the radio from him.

“I told him to come. Mike didn’t do anything wrong.” El said simply.

Another period of quiet, ended with a crackly sigh into the receiver. “Christ, you two are going to give me an ulcer. I told you he could come by today, you couldn’t just wait for the afternoon? What happened to ‘friends don’t lie’?” Hopper said sternly.

“Not a lie. You said today. It’s today. You said when Mike was out of school. He was out of school. So I told him he could come.” El said, rather petulantly.

“For the lov…” Hopper said “Joyce went in at nine.” Hopper said more to himself. “Is high-school in session, or are they out too?”

“Uh…” Mike nervously cleared his throat, “I mean, Nancy went in with Jonathan this morning, so, I think so?” Mike said nervously.

“That rules out the Harrington kid too. Shit. And you definitely aren’t riding on that foot?” Hopper said in a way that implied he already knew the answer.

“Uh, No. No sir. I don’t think so. Sir.” Mike stammered.

“We are well past ‘sir’ at this point, son, so you can knock that right off.” Hopper let out a long, frustrated sigh into his mic. “I have a meeting with the goddamn mayor in an hour. I don’t have time to go there and come back.”

Mike and El worriedly exchanged glances, unsure if that made things worse somehow.

“Okay”Hopper could be heard taking a few deep breaths off mic “Okay. You know what, okay. I can’t get you out of there. So you two win. You have today. And don’t bother saying anything I’m holding this button until I’ve said my peace. First, El, we are going to have to have a serious talk about lies of omission. Secondly, I’m going to take the some of the blame on this one. I should have known you kids of all people would pull something like this. That’s on me. In this case, I can see I wasn’t specific enough. So in the future I’m going to be _very_ specific. I’m going to tell you both when, where, and for how long and you two are going to stick to that, or this isn’t going to work. Got it?” Hopper said.

“Yes.” El said, and Mike added in a “Yes sir” over her shoulder.

El spoke tentatively into the mic again “Not mad?”

“Kid, I’m furious. I’m not going to keep you and your friends apart, but this kind of thing is unacceptable for so many reasons. But! I’m willing to let this slide on the understanding that we will be smart and honest about things going forward. Ok?” Hopper said, sounding more tired than angry at this point.

“Ok.” El said.

“I’m getting a headache and I have actual work to do today, so lets get on with it. How’d he hurt his ankle?” Hopper asked wearily.

“He fell on a trip wire.” El said.

“Well, at least I know they work, thanks for that Wheeler.” Hopper said, a note of devious mirth in his tone. “Didn’t I tell you where it was, kid?”

“Not the one in the back of the cabin.” Mike said, a little frustrated.

“Why the hell were you coming from… You know what, I don’t even care. Probably gave you a pretty good scare, huh?” Hopper asked, sounding far less upset than before. Mike supposed that was fair, he was mad about Mike going to the cabin behind his back, and now knew he had delivered a comeuppance in advance. 

“It sure did, Chief.” Mike grumbled.

“Ok, enough fooling around. Wheeler, get your shoe and sock off that foot. How’s it look. Is it swollen?” Hopper asked, now all business.

Mike managed to extricate himself from his shoe and sock, hissing through gritted teeth as he did so. The skin was an angry pinkish-red, and it was already nearly twice the thickness of his other ankle.

“Yeah, it’s pretty swollen.” Mike answered.

“Okay, everything facing the right direction?” Hopper inquired.

“Uh, yeah, I think so.” Mike responded. He couldn’t exactly tell, as puberty had put his ankles a decent distance away from his face, but it wasn’t obviously crooked.

“Right. Okay kid, these next parts are going to hurt, but it’ll let us know if anythings broken. First, I need you to rotate the ankle. Pretend you’re drawing a circle in the air with your toe.” Hopper instructed. El held onto Mike’s arm as he grimaced his way thorough the exercise.

“Okay. It hurt, but I did it.” Mike said.

“Okay, good work there. Now I need you to put some weight on it. It’s going to be painful, but if you can tough it out, it means nothing’s broken.” Hopper said.

“Okay, here I go.” Mike said, levering himself out of his chair on his good foot. El, offering silent support through the exchange so far, stood as well, holding onto him in case he lost his balance. He gave her a quick, appreciative smile before lowering his bad foot to the floor. He gradually put more and more weight on it, not quite holding in a slightly pitiful whine, and eventually was standing mostly normally. “Ok,” Mike said, breathing a little shakily as he spoke into the mic. “I’m standing on it. It hurts, but I can do it.”

“All right Wheeler. Good work. You can sit down, if you haven’t already. Now, without looking at it, I can’t tell if it’s a muscle pull, a sprain or something else, but lucky for us, if it isn’t broken, the fix is pretty much the same.” Hopper said. “Simple procedure. What you want to do right now it rice it.”

Mike and El, now settled back in their respective chairs, looked at each other in confusion.

“Where do we get rice?” El asked.

“I’m going to assume that means Wheeler doesn’t know this one either. Come to think of it, is it an army thing? Guess you wouldn’t then. It’s an acronym. Remember those kid? First letter of each word makes a new word. This one means rest, ice, compression, and elevation. We’ve got everything you need in the cabin someplace.” Hopper answered. “Basically, Wheeler needs to keep off it, and keep it elevated. Have him put his feet up on the sofa and prop the bad one up with a couple a’ pillows. Keep an ice pack on it for about twenty minutes at a time every hour or so. For the compression, you’re going to wrap the ankle in a bandage, tight, but not so tight it hurts. Simple enough?”

“Simple.” El said, nodding, clearly in a better mood now that she had a solution.

“Ice pack and the bandage should be in the first aid kid in the bathroom. The bandage is rolled up, it’ll be tan and stretchy. If it isn’t in the first aid kit, it might be in my foot locker. El, go grab those and let me know when you have them.” Hopper said.

“Yes, got it.” El said quickly, before dropping the radio mic and hurrying into another part of the cabin.

“Wheeler, you still there?” Hopper asked, a little more quietly than he’d been speaking.

Taking up the mic again, Mike responded. “Yeah. El just went to get the stuff. Thanks for this.”

“Don’t thank me yet. I’m going to say this quick. When I left for work this morning, El had no idea what second base meant, or what a hickey was. I absolutely expect that to be the case when I get back there today, understand me?” Hopper said quietly, but forcefully.

“I’m not… We don’t… I wouldn’t ever do anything like that to El.” Mike responded, quietly to avoid El overhearing, but nonetheless conveying his embarrassment and indignation.

“I get that you’re a good, nerdy boy, but you’re still a teenage boy alone in the house with a teenage girl who likes him enough to lie to get him there. One thing can lead to another and get out of hand. I need you to promise me that won’t happen. El, you know she didn’t have a normal upbringing. She doesn’t always get boundaries and rules, shit we take for granted. I can’t count on her knowing better, but I want to be damn sure I can count on you. I need to know you can put the brakes on if anything goes in that direction, no matter who starts it.” Hopper said, his tone alternating between threatening and something like begging.

That notion had never occurred to Mike before. He assumed El was more or less innocent with regards to anything… romantic. He wasn’t well versed, but he knew that often times couples let themselves get carried away, kissing moving on to making out, and from there… even further. He liked El a lot, but he knew where the line for 14 year olds was, and had never entertained the notion of crossing it with her. Did she though? If they were doing something… intimate and it felt good, did she have any reason to know she should stop? Now Hopper was counting on him to draw that line. He wanted to be insulted, but, being honest with himself, for all the nervousness and embarrassment that would be involved, he’d have a hard time saying no to El asking him for anything. Hopper was right though, he did know better. So he answered confidently.

“Nothing like that is going to happen. You have my word.” Mike said.

“It better not, or your next unsupervised visit together will be on the way back from moving me into the old folks home in 40 years.” Hopper said. Mike had to actually hold back shocked laugh at that. El padded back into the room and placed the supplies down, and reclaimed the mic from Mike.

“Your locker smells. You need to clean it.” El said.

“Ha, yeah, it’s probably been a while. You two have a handle on what to do with that? I have to get back inside.” Hopper said. Mike hadn’t realized Hopper would go out to his truck, though it made sense for privacy’s sake.

“I’m sorry.” El said, a small and timid sound.

“Don’t worry about it kiddo. We’ll talk later. Just, ah, just enjoy your day, huh?” Hopper said. “Over and out kid.” There was a sound of static and the line went dead.

“Well, that went better than I was afraid it would.” Mike spoke up after a moment’s pause.

“I knew he would be mad, but it was an emergency.” El said.

“So… this was all planned out? You know, me coming over early and stuff?” Mike asked, a little hesitantly. El looked a little ashamed.

“I… I didn’t want to wait. I like talking on the supercomm, but it’s not the same as being there.” El said. She reached out and just placed her hand on Mike’s arm. “If I go see you, here” she gestured to her head “you disappear if I try to do this. It’s like…” El paused to gather her thoughts, her speech skills had improved even from a month ago, but still fell short more often than she probably would like. “Sometimes it feels like… you aren’t real. I can hear you, and I can see you, but its like the TV. I can’t go where you are. I can’t touch.”

Mike grabbed her hand with his and squeezed it gently. “I get it. That’s totally how I felt when I didn’t know where you were.” Mike realized both he and Hopper had been way too paranoid. Maybe somewhere down the road, some of that fear would be justified, but for right now, all she wanted, and all he wanted too, for that matter, was to be here, talking and reconnecting, soothing and healing that hurt they shared over their long separation.

“I’m here now though, for real. And we have all day. And we’ll have more days after.” Mike said, excitement creeping into his tone. El was smiling a wide but watery smile. “And most times you probably won’t even need to get the bandages out!”

El let out a little laugh at that, and wiped at her eyes. “Yeah.” She said.


	3. Compression

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Mike has to compete with his own friends and his own hormones trying to make an idiot out of him. This is probably the closest it gets to anything naughty, and it's just Mike's brain running off on its own.

They had successfully wrapped the ankle and gotten Mike settled on the worn but comfortable sofa. El was in the kitchen, struggling with the ancient ice tray, which refused to give up cubes imprisoned within without a fight. Mike was relating a story from the previous afternoon, which normally he’d have told immediately on their nightly chat, but had been lost in the excitement of discussing their visit.

“So now we’re all standing there, listening to this speech he’d spent all day preparing, like we’re supposed to back him up. He goes on and on about ‘these books were essential to the process’ and ‘cataloging an entirely new species’ and how he’d fully planned on crediting her contributions when he eventually published his findings.” Mike described to her. El had resorted to just banging the entire tray on the counter to free the cubes.

“Did it work though? Did he have to pay the fine?” She asked, collecting the cubes that had scattered to the floor.

“Well, she looks at him, real pleasant, smiling, right? And she says ‘Mr. Henderson, I’m very impressed. If your future in science doesn’t pan out, you’d make a fine politician.’ Dustin gives us this little look like ‘see guys?’, but then she just finishes with ‘the fine’s total nine seventy five, and a two month ban for good measure.’ Max and Lucas just run out at that point, because they were going to lose it.” Mike continued.

“What did Dustin say?” El asked. She’d managed to scoop most of the ice into the blue pack, and was just sliding the refilled tray of water back into the freezer compartment.

“Oh, he didn’t take it well. He just yells ‘two months! This is such bullshit.’ The librarian didn’t even look surprised. She just smiled and said ‘three months then.’” Mike said, doing his best to imitate the contrasting tones of Dustin and the librarian.

“Oh no!” El said, covering her mouth with one hand to hide her laughter at her dear friend’s expense. She was returning with the now filled and ready to use ice pack.

“Yeah, he just made this sort of offended squeaking noise and handed over the money. So now not only is he banned from the library, he’s got no money for the arcade. And Will, Will of all people, goes up to him when we’re outside, and with a totally straight face, grabs his shoulder and says ‘Now do you see that crime doesn’t pay?’ like he’s talking to a little kid in some after school special! We all lost it at that point.” Mike finished, pausing to laugh throughout.

“Was Dustin mad?” El asked, but Mike’s brain failed to register it at that moment.

El had come over to the couch, proceeded to carefully lift Mike’s legs, and slide in to sit beneath them. She just as carefully lowered his legs to rest on her lap, and set to carefully arranging the ice pack on his right ankle. Now Mike wouldn’t have expected this to be a problem, but apparently puberty had other ideas. In Mike’s brain, his affection for El was pure and uncomplicated by base physicality. Now he enjoyed the kisses, and he would admit that she was pretty (gorgeous, beautiful, stunning) but not in the entire year she’d been missing had he entertained notions of anything beyond simple kissing and hand holding should they be lucky enough to be reunited. He was sure that it “just wasn’t like that”.

The problem with that thinking was that he was a fourteen year old boy. When he’d met El, he had no libido to speak of. While El was hidden from him, he’d been depressed, which he didn’t realize had a very effective “cold shower” effect on him. Puberty hadn’t been deterred, and had kept on chugging along though, and now he was a healthy, happy (if somewhat traumatized) fourteen year old boy sharing a couch with the very pretty girl he was pretty sure he was in love with.

This is a very complicated way of explaining why Mike’s poor hormone ravaged brain ground to a halt when El sat where she sat and did what she did. All thoughts of the story he’d been telling fled and were replaced with _“Legs. My legs. On her legs. On her Lap. Lap. Thighs. Oh god. My pants are rolled up, that means nothing but her jeans between us. Jeans and, like, probably underwear. Oh god don’t think about her underwear. Go back! Legs! Wait, don’t think about her legs! They’re warm though. And long. That old yellow shirt probably wouldn’t cover… Oh God stop thinking!”_

“Mike, did I hurt you?” El asked, concerned with look on Mike’s face.

_“Oh god she’s talking to me. Stop being a mouthbreather and answer you idiot! Hurt me? What does that even… My ankle! Oh god, she’s worried about my ankle while I’m being a huge gross perv and…”_ Unconsciously, Mike flexed his injured ankle slightly, and the shock of pain brought his mind back into the present.

“No! I mean, sorry, no. It still hurts, but you’re fine!” Mike stammered out.

“Ok, good.” El said, relieved. “We bandaged it and now we have ice, so Hopper said to just keep it elevated. Do you think this is good?”

Mike willed his hormones under control and answered “It’s good. Thanks El.” He smiled, determined that, hormones be damned, his ankle was going to be the only part of his body doing any elevating. Nothing was going to ruin this day for them.

“Uh, yeah. So, where were we? Right, Dustin. He was pissed, but he was just being a baby about it. It’s not like we could have done anything, anyway. So, yeah. He says he isn’t speaking to any of us, but I bet he won’t even make it until the end of the day.” Mike said, frustrated at his voice cracking a little as he started, but managed to wrangle control of himself back and finish the story of yesterday’s unfortunate library trip.

“Poor Dustin. Dart?” El said, looking inquisitively at Mike. He nodded. “Dart caused lots of trouble for him. Still, it was nice for him to bring Dart inside and give him candy, even if Dart turned out to be a Demogorgon.”

“Yeah, Dustin might be a little too curious for his own good. One time he-” Mike started to respond before he was interrupted by a strange noise. He and El both looked at each-other, each clearly confused. Whatever it was made the noise again, and continued to do so at a regular interval.

El recognized the sound before Mike got the chance, and started digging her hand in the back of the couch cushions before he could even inquire what she was doing. A second later she pulled her supercomm out of the cushions, where it had likely been discarded earlier in the morning when she ran out to investigate Mike’s fall. Someone was calling out, but they were either on the wrong channel or too far out of range to be intelligible. El adjusted the knobs with practiced ease, and with a small squint at the device tuned the voice in clearly.

“Mike. Come in Mike. Seriously, are you okay? Mike?” It was Will’s voice coming through the radio.

“Hello Will. Mike is here with me.” El responded.

“Oh! Hey! So he made it. That’s good. I just got a really weird phone call from the Chief asking about midterms and Mike and I wanted to make sure everything was okay. Over.” Will said. El held the walkie midway between her and Mike and held the button.

“I made it. Turns out Hopper isn’t here, so he was… a little upset that I was over. Over.” Mike said.

“Wait, you two are alone there? And he didn’t drive back to drag you home by your hair? Over.” Will asked, clearly amused.

“He has to meet the Mayor. Wouldn’t have called him if I didn’t have to.” El answered. “Over.” She added.

“Was this your idea? Wow. I knew you were brave but I don’t think I’d try to pull something like that on the Chief. Wait, why did you call him then? Over.” Will asked.

“Mike was hurt. I didn’t know what to do, so I asked Hop.” El said. “Over.”

“Oh, geez, are you okay Mike? How’d you get hurt? Over.” Will asked.

“I got caught on a trip wire and twisted my ankle.” Mike grumbled. “Over.”

“Oh, that makes sense. Over.” Will said, as though it was obvious.

“What does that mean?” Mike asked defensively, neglecting the ‘over’.

“Well, no offense, but ever since you grew like two feet in six months, you’ve been kinda like a baby deer trying to learn to walk. Over.” Will answered. El snorted and covered her mouth with her hand. She looked apologetically at Mike.

“Oh my god, how is that not offensive? Like you’re so perfectly coordinated. You got trapped in a folding chair for like a half hour one time!” Mike shouted into the supercomm. “Over!”

“Hey that was in fifth grade! I’ve gotten much better at chairs since then. Your bambi legs are still an everyday problem. Over.” Will said, clearly enjoying himself.

“Don’t you take French Byers? Shouldn’t you be getting to school for your mid term?” Mike shot back.

“Dustin and his Mom are coming by to pick me up soon, so, okay, I’ll leave you two alone. Have fun with Hopper when he gets back.” Will said, still frustratingly amused with himself.

“Over and Out!” Mike yelled.

“Bye Will!” El said into the walkie before pushing the antenna down and switching it off. She looked at Mike, who still looked a little grumpy. She patted his knee gently and said “It’s okay. I like baby deer. They’re cute.”

Mike covered his eyes with his hand and groaned as he let his head drop back over the arm of the couch.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For teenage boys, there is no resisting the urge to give your friends shit at every opportunity, and Will knows, that for better or worse, he's bulletproof as far as teasing goes at this point. So he pushes it a bit. Next chapter is longer.


	4. Elevation

El had to be a genius. That was the only explanation. There was no way an ordinary person could process and retain that much information. That was what Mike was thinking as El explained the ridiculously complicated history of Victor and Nikki and all the other characters he was seeing on the screen. Seriously, he thought Lord of the Rings packed a lot of characters and story lines into itself, but apparently Tolkien had nothing on The Young and the Restless.

Mike wouldn’t go so far as saying he liked the soap opera, but he surprisingly didn’t hate it. The musical stings, dramatic close ups, and hammy acting made it very easy to get caught up in the emotion of the scenes. What he liked much more than the show, was El’s boundless enthusiasm for it. He would take odds that her explanations thus far amounted to more words than she’d ever spoken before at one time. Mike was disappointed when the show ended.

“Did you like it?” El asked expectantly.

“Yeah, but I don’t know if I could ever keep up with all of that.” Mike said, grateful he didn’t have to lie to appease her.

“There’s a lot, but it gets easier.” El said, sagely. Her eyes suddenly brightened. “Do you want lunch? I can make lunch!”

“Yeah, if you want.” Mike responded. El set to the task of replacing herself under Mike’s legs with a folded pillow from Hopper’s bed with enthusiasm, taking a moment to remove the bag of water the ice pack had become (it had been more than twenty minutes). He smiled as she went about her work, she seemed so pleased that she was able to do this for someone else for once. Mike was surprised to hear the clinking of silverware on glass and the refrigerator door opening more than once. He’d assumed that lunch would be a few Eggos, which he wouldn’t mind. He might not be the devotee of Eggos that El was, but he liked them just fine.

He was considering the mounted deer head on the wall when she came back over with two plates.

“Ham-and-Swiss. With mustard.” El announced, presenting one of the plates to Mike. He took it with a smile. He was actually pretty hungry, though he wouldn’t have imposed if she hadn’t offered. He picked up half of his sandwich, cut diagonally, he noted. Taking a bite, he was impressed. El could make a hell of a sandwich apparently.

“Wow, this is really good! I don’t usually like mustard, either.” Mike remarked. El beamed.

“Spicy brown mustard. Makes it fancy, Hop says.” She said proudly, moving into the kitchen to presumably get drinks.

“Do you like Pepsi or Dr. Pepper?” El shouted from inside the refrigerator.

“I’ll have a Dr. Pepper, sure.” Mike said.

El returned with two Dr. Peppers, depositing one on the coffee table next to Mike, as she sat on the other end of the table and tucked into her own sandwich. As she did so, her shirt sleeve, already lazily pushed up from making lunch, fell, and revealed a fading bruise on her left elbow and under arm.

“Oh, hey, El, how did that happen?” Mike asked, full of concern. El nearly choked on her sandwich as a blush spread across her face.

“Nothing. It was… stupid.” El said, not meeting Mike’s gaze.

“It can’t be that bad. I mean, I already managed to fall on my face today.” Mike said. El looked straight down, and mumbled something out.

“Sorry?” Mike said. El let out a frustrated sigh.

“I tried to… fly.” El said the last word quietly, but Mike managed to catch it.

“Really? That sounds awesome. What happened?” Mike asked.

“I can move things that are heavier than me, and Hopper said I was in the air when I closed the gate, so I thought maybe I could fly.” El said. “But when I move things, I can… see them. I’m here, and I make them move. Moving me was hard. I couldn’t… see me. So first I moved me too fast, and I almost hit my head. Then I went slower, but I started to… turn around in the air.” El used her hands to describe a slow forward roll or summersault.

“Then I… what is… panic. I panicked. I almost fell, but when I tried to stop, I kind of… woosh.” She gestured toward the wall. “Then, I hit the wall, and I fell on Hop’s bed.” Mike stared at her in awe.

“That is a way more badass story than my dumb stilt legs tripping me all the time.” Mike said, smile on his face. “Tell me next time you want to try, we’ll put pillows everywhere. Maybe we could tie a string to your leg, so you don’t fly away.” El fixed him with a pouting glare, but couldn’t fight the smile threatening to break through. Eventually they both collapsed into giggles.

They composed themselves enough to finish their lunches, though not without some effort. Mike made a move to get up and take his plate to the kitchen, before remembering his current predicament. El just gave him a smile and took his along with her’s to the sink. As she walked back, she took note of the giant backpack Mike had brought with him.

“Mike?” She asked.

“Yeah?” He answered.

“Do you want your bag pack?” She asked.

“Oh, I totally forgot I brought that. Everyone would be so pissed if I did.” Mike said. El looked a little confused. “Everyone wanted to come along, but, you know, the rules. So if they couldn’t come, everyone wanted to send along some stuff to help keep you getting too bored until you can really come hang out with all of us.”

El was practicality in shock. Mike knew from her reaction to their Christmas gift that El still hadn’t wrapped her head around gifts yet. Her whole upbringing had been reward and punishment based. Gifts happened when you did something exceptional, or you were going to be asked to do something unpleasant. People just giving you things because they love you was still quite alien to her. That didn’t mean she was unappreciative, on the contrary, she awkwardly gathered up the pack by it’s straps and stumbled over to Mike as fast as she could. She dropped it on the coffee table next to him, and sat on the edge of the couch by his knees. 

“First things first…” Mike said, unzipping the smaller front pocket. He withdrew an envelope and passed it over to her. She opened it gently, not wanting to tear even the envelope and discovered a greeting card inside. It had cute pictures of Snoopy and Woodstock, and spoke of faraway friends being close in our hearts. Each member of the party had scribbled a message inside, and pressed into the fold of the card was a Polaroid photo of the Party, Jonathan, Nancy and Joyce, smiling and waving. There were tears gathering at the corners of her eyes as she looked at the photo, giving a watery laugh now and then as she noticed how stiff Jonathan looked, or how Nancy practically had her brother in an awkward headlock as they waved to the camera.

“Thank you.” El said quietly, wiping at her eyes with the heel of her hand, sniffling but still smiling.

“They made sure to tell me to tell you that they all miss you too, even though I whine about it the most.” Mike said, laughing a little.

“Now, this is just the first wave. We couldn’t get everything in one trip. Nancy and Joyce wanted to send some clothes along, but those take up a lot of space, and they didn’t know your size.” Mike explained as he pulled out three board games, and several crumpled and tied off shopping bags from Melvald’s. He finished by dumping out a pile of paperback books onto the table. El looked on with open wonder.

El examined a few of the books, as they were already visible. “Nancy Drew… Who is Nancy Drew?” She asked.

“She’s a detective. She solves mysteries, kind of like a police officer, but she’s just a kid, like our age. Mrs. Byers convinced us that Lord of the Rings and the Hobbit had too many made up words, and we should start with something more realistic. Plus, like every girl I’ve ever met loves Nancy Drew, so you’ll probably like them. Between Nancy, Max, and Lucas’s sister, I think we got almost all of them.” Mike explained. El was already looking over the descriptions on the back covers, already taking an interest in the character. Mike grabbed one of the bags, untying the handles.

“Oh, these are just some, you know, toys and stuff. Just stuff we figured you might have some fun with. We have a View-master, a deck of Uno cards, a Rubik’s Cube, my old Etch-a-Sketch, and, oh, I don’t know if you remember-” before Mike could finish his sentence, El grabbed the toy from his hands.

“Rory.” She whispered with reverence. She hugged the little dinosaur toy to her chest, before holding it out and pushing his little button which made him roar, laughing a little as it did. Mike was smiling from ear to ear.

“I remember.” She said to Mike, her tone and her face conveying the underlying message ‘Are you serious? I’d never forget.’ Mike understood that. He’d played that first day together back in his mind nearly as often as that moment in the classroom, regrets plaguing him, keeping him awake at night. He’d wished so often that he’d savored those moments of safety and freedom more. At the time, he’d been anxious to find Will, anxious to meet the others after school, not being present nearly as much as he later wished he’d been. Even with his regrets, that day was still full of cherished memories.

Soon enough, El had set Rory down on the table gently, and had taken a brief interest in the other baubles, sliding the sides of the Rubik’s Cube, shaking the Etch-a-Sketch by her ear, clicking trough the slides already loaded in the view master. Soon, though, she looked at the other bags, not saying so verbally, but expressing a very keen interest in what other treasures were in store. Mike didn’t waste any time and opened another.

“Oh, okay. This one has a bunch of magazines and comics.” Mike said, pulling the stack out of the bag, passing them over to her. She inspected each of them, the colorful covers of the comic books, and the glamorous images adorning the Magazines. One however caught her eye, probably because she could only read one word of the cover. Elle. She held it out, pointing at the cover, then back at herself.

“Elle?” She asked.

“Yeah, that's, like, a fashion magazine, but its from France. I can’t remember if it was Nancy or Jonathan that found it, but we knew that one was going to you.” Mike said. El flipped trough the pages, not understanding the words, but enamoured by the images.

“Pretty.” She said as she examined the over the top outfits and romanticized perfume ads. She set it aside for later as she saw Mike opening the next parcel. He rolled his eyes a little, but proceeded to pull out brushes, combs, gels, pomades, shampoos and conditioners.

“Most of this is from Steve. Mrs. Byers added a few things too.” Mike said, pulling out a smaller baggie of hair clips, elastics, and bobby pins. He passed another bag to El before opening the one closest to him. El oohed and ahhed at the contents of her latest treasure trove. This one contained all manner of makeup and nail polish. Mike wasn’t an officianado of cosmetics, so he couldn’t say much.

“Nancy and Mrs. Byers thought you should have your own stuff. I don’t even know what some of it is, so you’re going to need to talk to them about using it.” Mike offered with a shrug. Some of the makeup, and most of the nail polish had been used previously, but El just seemed excited to have it, examining the dozen or so colors she could now paint her fingers.

“This one’s the best.” Mike said. He opened the last bag, and stacked cassette after cassette on the table. He topped them off with a sheaf of yellow legal pad pages, artists and tracks listed in at least four different sets of handwriting. Most were the generic, recordable kind, but one or two had actual album covers. Before El could interject that she had no way to play them, Mike produced the piece de resistance.

“Ta-da! Your very own Walkman!” Mike said, presenting her the device. It was a little old looking, and had a red Autobot sticker on the front. “It’s actually Lucas’s old one. He broke it a while ago and we’ve been working on fixing it in AV. The hinge on the tape door is a little finniky, because we couldn’t find the exact right size pin, but it works perfectly, I promise.”

El had scooted in close to see the device for herself, pausing as she noticed the tapes all had writing on them, Mix 1, Mix 2, and so on. “How much music goes in these?” She asked him.

“I think they all have about an hour’s worth?” Mike replied. El’s jaw dropped, as though she didn’t believe that much music existed. “We were just going to make you one or two at first, like of our favorite stuff? But then Max said that was kind of selfish, you know, just assuming you’d like what we did. We realized you haven’t had a chance to hear a lot of different music, so we kinda got a little of everything, from Afrika Bambaataa to ZZ Top. That way you can decide what you like.”

“Afrika… Bam…” El started, looking at Mike.

“I don’t even know who Afrika Bambaataa is, but they’re on one of these.” Mike said, shrugging.

“Can we listen?” She asked. Mike wasn’t surprised, necessarily, but he hadn’t really considered how to make that work ahead of time. Almost all of the objects included in the first “care package” had been intended to ease El’s alone time. Still, he and Will had shared headphones before, so it was doable.

“Uh, yeah. I think we just need to, um, rearrange things a little?” Mike said. Mike and El worked as best as they could, but still managed to knock half of the objects clear off the table, trying to get his long and gangly limb set up on the table instead of the couch. Once he was seated facing forward, El moved in and squeezed between his left side and the arm of the couch.

“Okay?” El asked him. She gathered up her new Walkman and held it up to him, not knowing yet how to make it function. It took Mike a full fifteen seconds to respond, unable to initially cope with being literally shoulder to shoulder and hip to hip.

“Yes! Yeah. Good. Perfect.” Mike’s voice cracked as he finally answered. He set about explaining the buttons, showing her which way the tape loaded in, and how to adjust the volume. He set the headphones between them on the back cushion and pushed the volume as high as he was comfortable doing without damaging the headphones, and hit play.

The first mix was mostly Jonathan and Will’s contributions. It started off with The Clash, which El enjoyed and immediately and excitedly identified as “Will’s song”. She didn’t have such a great reaction to The Dead Kennedys’ California Uber Alles, making a face which Mike found both hilarious and adorable. 

Mike watched her face relax as she leaned in a little closer to better hear the opening of Joy Division’s Love Will Tear Us Apart, and Mike’s vision was suddenly and irresistibly drawn to her slightly parted lips.

_“Should I kiss her? I really want to kiss her. Does she want to kiss me? I mean, I’ve kissed her before, but was she just, like, putting up with it? Did she even enjoy it? Am I any good at it? Oh man, I’m probably terrible! I didn’t even bring mints or anything! How’s my breath? I can’t check with out her noticing…” Mike’s thoughts moved into a panicked spiral as he second guessed even his second guesses and did his best to convince himself that he was a disgusting loser unworthy of love. Until he locked eyes with El._

_“Screw it.”_ He thought, leaning over and closing the distance between them. There was a tiny uncomfortable moment where their noses got in they way, but they found their angle. Mike’s mind was completely quiet, nothing seemed to exist but the moment. He was caught off guard as he started to pull away, but El captured his bottom lip and pulled him back in. They eventually separated, looking into each others eyes.

El snuggled further into his side, and threaded her fingers into his. Mike couldn’t remember ever being as content as he was in that moment, twisted ankle or no. Hell, if a little ankle pain was the price to pay for this, he’d gladly give up the whole foot.

* * *

Three hours later, El’s head flicked to the side and undid the locks on the front door as soon as she heard the secret knock. She had done it out of habit, not even really noticing. Neither did Mike. Not until he heard heavy footsteps. And a barely restrained, deep voiced laugh. Mike squeezed his eyes shut, not wanting to acknowledge that Hopper was less than five feet away, serving as an eye witness to what was going on.

Currently, Mike was giving El a test out of the pages of Tiger Beat magazine. He was holding the folded magazine in his right hand, as his left was currently occupied. El had one knee propped up on the couch, with Mike’s arm resting on it. She was currently in the process of painting his ring finger with purple nail polish. All the nails on his left hand, and the exposed toes on his right foot were a rainbow of colors. El’s own fingers were in a similar state. Every bottle of the polish was out and sitting on every available surface.

“You know, I’ve had a long day. I was ready to come home, crack open a beer, and forget this day even happened. But this.” Hopper gestured to the scene he found on the couch. “This might make it all worth it. I just wish I had a camera.” Mike felt his ears burning and knew his face was beet red.

“She wanted to practice. And she, you know, ran out of fingers.” Mike said, cringing as he realized how stupid that sounded.

“I’m sure she was very persuasive. I got pizza, grab a slice while its hot.” Hopper said.

“Diet!” El shouted.

“Really, going to lecture me about breaking rules today?” Hopper said, staring her down. El pouted and deflated.

“Wheeler, I’ll take you to the Byers’ place, and you call your mom from there. Good?” Hopper said, getting the beer he’d been looking forward to all day, and sitting in the armchair. He appraised El’s work. “Looking good Wheeler. Not a bad job you did kiddo.” El smiled at him with obvious pride.

“I won at Battleships too.” She said, screwing the top back on the polish. “And look at all the music!”

“I see that. Looks like you’ve got quite a haul here.” Hopper said. “We gotta write up some thank you notes for everyone.”

“So Wheeler, where’s your bike? I didn’t see it out there.” Hopper said, passing Mike a slice of pepperoni.

“Oh, I hid it in the bushes on the way here. I didn’t want anyone to see it and figure out where where I was going.” Mike said, a little proud of his proactive work on protecting their secrecy.

“Not a bad idea. I’m glad you at least took that part seriously.” Hopper said, taking a bite of his slice. “How’d you mark it off? I’ll grab it in the morning on my way to work and drop it by the Byers’.”

Mike cringed again. “Marking it off. Yeah. No. That’s a good idea. I’ll, um, do that next time.”

Hopper leaned back in his chair and heaved a huge sigh. “Damn it Wheeler.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wanted to finish this before the new season. Just under the wire.


End file.
